Escape route a danger

THE Sunshine Coast council's decision to approve an emergency exit out of Glenfields Estate at Mountain Creek could put residents' lives at risk.

Documents obtained by the Daily allege the subdivision “fails all planning standards” and labels the proposed emergency exit on to the Sunshine Motorway a dangerous alternative and inadequate for residents in the 945-allotment estate.

In October last year, the Department of Main Roads advised the council that the proposed emergency gated access point to the motorway was “not appropriate and will present an unacceptable safety risk to road users on the Sunshine Motorway”.

The department urged the council to seek other options.

“There appears to be a far safer solution of extending Glenfields Boulevard to Mountain Creek Road,” the letter said.

The council resolved on December 8 to discontinue progress on the extension of Glenfields Boulevard and instead negotiate with the Department of Main Roads for an emergency gated exit to the Sunshine Motorway.

The exit would be gated at all times and opened only in an emergency situation by the Queensland Police Service.

The cost of the project is estimated at $100,000.

The exit options came to the forefront of the council agenda after a push from the community in the wake of a grass fire in September, 2009.

In a report entitled Glenfields Estate, Mountain Creek – second road access, the disapproval of the Department of Main Roads was noted.

The department was not the only one to disagree with the alternative emergency exit out of Glenfields Estate.

In a memorandum of September, 2007, to former councillor Tom Hulett, a senior council planning and infrastructure officer labelled Glenfields Estate a failure.

The officer stated: “The Glenfields subdivision is effectively one huge cul-de-sac that fails all planning standards and at some stage should be corrected by way of construction of the missing link.”

The officer also labelled the sole exit and entry point from Prelude Drive unacceptable for the number of residents living in the estate.

“The Maroochy Plan currently limits developments with a single point of access to desirably 100 allotments with a maximum of 200 allotments,” the memorandum said.

“The Glenfields development has 945 allotments serviced by a single point of access.”

Glenfields Estate was approved in 1992. Part of that approval was the provision for a road reservation to allow for a potential second access into the estate at Glenfields Boulevard.

The council undertook investigations into traffic demand, environmental impacts, concept design for the new road, preliminary cost estimates, impacts on the connecting Mountain Creek Road, risk to lives in case of fire or flood, and alternative exits from the estate.

The council voted to continue negotiations with the Department of Main Roads for the emergency gated access from Berrigan Place.

The Glenfields Waterbury Park Community Association was outraged that the vital correspondence was not divulged at community meetings.

Association president Frank Catorall said the gated emergency access would become a bottleneck in times of emergency with at least 2000 people attempting to escape through the 5.5 metre exit on to the highway.

Mr Catorall accused the council of not being transparent on the issue of public safety.

“If true, why would the council's most senior planning officials not disclose critical safety issues of the council's Berrigan Place option to the residents of Glenfields?” he said.

When the association asked developer Australand about the dedicated extension of Glenfields Boulevard it stated it had “fulfilled their obligations in accordance with the conditions issued by council for the completion of the development”.

Sunshine Coast council did not respond to questions regarding the documents before publication deadline.